ACTIVITY 21: Listen to Sandra, an
English teacher, talking about her experience of learning Chinese.
What aspect of this is she describing? Choose the best
alternative
from the menu and then check the correct answer.
Now listen to Sandra while
you check the transcription of her conversation below.
MARK:
You were in China, I understand, and
you had to learn Chinese ...
SANDRA:
Yes.
MARK:
... which is obviously a very
different language from English. Did you have any particular
techniques or strategies that you used which helped you
learn the language?
SANDRA:
Yes. I used to underline vocabulary
that I really felt I needed, for my needs, in, I had a. a
book, so I'd underline that vocabulary and expression in red
so that I could really focus on that. And trying to maybe,
with words, because Chinese is so different from English,
thinking 'Ah, I'll remember that word because it's like this
word in English', or making a strong image of the word.
And then the other thing that I really, really, helped me to
teach my students better is that you cannot sit down and
learn vocabulary, erm. like once a week, sitting down for
half an hour with your vocabulary book. But that, in a sense,
you have to do it a little bit and often, it's a little bit
like doing a diet. If you're on a diet, and you kind of
starve yourself and think 'I'll lose weight' and 'I've lost
weight', it'll come back on again. Or doing exercises: you
need to do it a little and often. So, the way that I
learnt vocabulary, erm, was by copying those words and
expressions that I really needed. And also listening to
conversations and copying down things that I remembered when
I came back.
MARK:
Wh-what do you mean when you say you
copied ...
SANDRA:
I put them ...
MARK:
... the words.
SANDRA:
... into my vocabulary book. I found
out, in Chinese you have a pinyin which is like a
sort of transliteration system, so it's the Roman alphabet.
And, er, I'd sort of notice words that came up again and
again, and I'd make a note of them and ask my Chinese
friends what they meant, and put them in a special
vocabulary book, which I, it was small so I could keep it in
my pocket. And I'd just read my vocabulary book three
times a day, just for five minutes. Erm, and then I'd do
what I did last week because you forget terribly quickly. So
a little bit and often, I think, is the rule for learning
vocabulary. So that it becomes part of your routine and it
doesn't become this awful slog of learning lots and lots of
words.
Learning Chinese
ACTIVITY 22: Read again the
transcription above and complete this
summary of the methods Sandra used. It is written as seven points of
advice on remembering new vocabulary in any foreign language.
The first letter of each missing word is given. Then
check the correct answers.
1.
the
in your textbook which you need
in .
2.
One way to
a word is to find a similar
in your language; another way is to make a picture of it in your
mind.
3.
Learn your
not once a week but a
and
.
4.
Copy words and
into a
which is small enough to
in your
.
5.
Also
into this book words which you hear people in
using again and a
.
6.
Read your vocabulary book
times a
for
minutes.
7.
Look over the words you learned
week so that you don't
them.
FELICITACIONES !!! Acabas de finalizar la UNIT 1 - LESSON 3
del OM First Certificate Exam. Antes de pasar a la siguiente lección, por favor asegúrate de
repasar todo lo que has aprendido aquí.
